Every Way (Brush of Love 4)

“But this is where I think Hailey will be spending most of her time,” Jack said.

He led me all the way down the hallway to a door at the very end. He threw it open, and I allowed the scent of the fresh coat of paint to hit my nostrils before I allowed my eyes to take in the sight of the room.

It was Hailey’s art studio, and it was perfect.

There were windows on every wall, so she had a view no matter where she went. It spanned the width of the house and had multiple built-in storage units with doors and shelves. There were two french double doors that opened up to a small balcony, and the view overlooked the forest that sat on three sides of the house.

“It’s the best view in the house. Just like you asked,” Jack said.

I was speechless, and I knew Hailey would be too. Everything about this place was perfect. I threw my arm around Jack and started laughing and then clapped him on the back with my palms. Even though I had designed it, laid it out, and drew up the plans, it was still better than I could’ve ever imagined.

“Thank you, my friend. Thank you so much,” I said.

“I’m glad you like it,” Jack said. “There’s a catch, though.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“We just laid the hardwood floors late last night, so they’ll need another day or so to set. Don’t bring Hailey and start running around on the floors yet. And if you’ve got any furniture deliveries coming, try to postpone them.”

“I haven’t scheduled any deliveries yet. Don’t worry. I’m not going to ruin this wonderful work of yours,” I said.

“That’s all I ask,” he said, grinning.

“Holy shit, this place looks phenomenal.”

“You ready for that little one?” he asked.

Just the mention of the baby sank my heart a little bit. I was ready, but talking about the baby reminded me of Hailey, which reminded me of her current disposition. Which reminded me that I had an entire pile of bullshit to wade through when I got home.

“It’s natural to be scared, Bryan. Babies are new, they’re helpless, and they’re totally rel

iant on you. Take it a day at a time,” Jack said.

“Thanks, man. I really appreciate it.”

“All right. Let’s give these hardwood floors some time to settle and set,” he said.

“Sounds like a plan.”

I was in a daze of mixed emotions when I left the house. The project was done, and in a perfect world, I would have gone to the hardware store, cut her a set of keys, and given them to her over a fancy dinner tonight. I would’ve taken her out, presented her with the keys, and then come home and made sweet love to her as we dreamed of moving into our new place. But the whole point of this new place was to leave the old life we had behind and to leave all that drama in the past and leave all the hatred and anger behind us.

But it was still looming over our heads.

I walked into the house and tried to find Hailey. Her car was in the driveway, but she was nowhere to be found. I looked around downstairs before I headed to our room and then peeked into the bathroom in case she was taking a bath.

But again, she was nowhere to be found.

“Hailey? Where are you?”

I heard a light sigh come from down the hallway, and I headed for the room.

It was the room we had converted into a pseudo-art studio for Hailey, but the room wasn’t worth half a damn. It was small, it had poor lighting, and it had no storage space for her to stick anything. She had stuck a little ratty chair from her studio apartment in there so she had somewhere to sit, but that meant she was holding her canvas whenever she wanted to paint.

I couldn’t wait for her to see her new art studio at our new home.

“Knock, knock,” I said.

“Hey there,” Hailey said. “Where did you pop off to this morning?”